


Aftermath

by leighlou247



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Feels, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-10-18 14:16:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17582462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leighlou247/pseuds/leighlou247
Summary: Thanos snapped his fingers, half of all life in the galaxy was eradicated, wiped clean with the only remains being ash and dust. This is a story told from two perspectives of the snap, a victim and a survivor.





	1. Star-Lord

_ “Oh man.” _

Peter Quill’s last words. He honestly thought it would be something epic, like ‘You said it yourself, bitch, we’re the Guardians of the Galaxy.’ Nope. It shows that one never truly knows when their last moment would be. Peter had lost so much in only a span of a day. Gamora, Drax, Mantis. He had no clue what Rocket, Groot, Kraglin and the Ravagers were up to, but he hoped they were at least okay. Heck, a little part of him cared a little bit about that ugly-ass Thor jerk.

 

The first thing that Peter sensed was music. Not just any music, but it was  _ his _ music. Specifically, “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac.  _ Wait a second, that’s on  _ Awesome Mix, Vol. 2. _ Ego crushed this one. _ Peter opened his eyes and he was in the Milano, sitting down across from his wall unit, staring right at the mix tape playing. 

 

He stood up and looked to the left, where he saw an endless splatter of stars. Nobody was piloting the Milano, but he wasn’t going to worry about that, considering at this point that it’s probably on autopilot. 

 

“Peter?” a familiar voice called from behind him. Instantly, he felt a twinge in his chest: guilt, sorrow, and regret all piled onto his shoulders. He turned around, moving one foot back and pivoting around. He knew one of the voices, but he didn’t expect  _ everyone _ to be there.

 

The speaker was his mother, the first of the many people he had lost. The Guardians were there, but not Rocket, but somehow they made up for it by having two Groots on the ship. One of them the one who sacrificed himself on Xandar, the other he was just educating in puberty last week. He also saw Yondu, and a familiar glowing, floating orb on a nearby table. He was mostly concerned with his family than Ego’s remains at the moment. 

 

“Mom?” Peter gasped, subconsciously moving in her direction and giving her a hug. She was solid, unlike the vision he had while holding the power stone. He wanted to squeeze her until she popped, but his hug was surprisingly gentle. She caressed his hair, something she did while he was a kid.

 

“You’re so grown up. I’m so proud of my baby,” she whispered, kissing his forehead. They let go in sync, and looked at each other with a warm smile. Peter glanced at the rest of the room, where all eyes seemed to be on him, even the younger Groot, who usually kept to himself and his tablet.

 

Yondu gave him the Ravager salute. Peter solemnly did the same. They held eye contact until they both gave in. “Come ‘ere, boy!” Yondu exclaimed, giving Peter a big bear hug. Peter let go and turned to see the Guardians and the orb waiting patiently. 

 

“Group hug!” Mantis exclaims, tackling Peter in a hug while the others reluctantly joined. Peter still enjoyed it though. Whenever they all let go, Peter turned to the orb. 

 

“What in the hell is this?” Peter asked, knowing it had something to do with Ego by the color and general nature of it, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

 

“Not yet,” Gamora said. “First I just want to say, I don’t blame you for my death. My life is solely in the hand of Thanos.” 

 

Her words lightened Peter’s heart. “Thanks,” he murmured. 

 

Drax chimed in. “Though I was upset as well, I ultimately blame Peter for Thanos’ success in reclaiming the Time Stone.”

 

Young Groot shook his head in a condescending manner.

 

“No, it is not Peter’s fault! He reacted out of love and regret,” Mantis spoke up, defending Peter.

 

“Let’s just quit throwin’ around fingers and figure out how teh fix this,” Yondu said, projecting his voice over the now arguing Guardians. 

 

“Gamora, what is that?” Peter reiterated, pointing at the orb.

 

Gamora sighed. “Don’t touch it yet. Let me explain.” She sat down. “When we killed Ego, your godly powers died with him.”

 

Yondu turned to Meredith. “By the way, what the hell were you thinking?” he murmured, preceding a slap from Meredith. 

 

“I didn’t know he was crazy! Continue, Gamora,” she responded, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

“Anyways, this is the essence of your powers. Just like your mother, Groot, Yondu, and myself are here, so is your Celestial half. You sacrificed it for the entire galaxy,” Gamora explained. 

 

“Why can’t I touch this yet? Gamora, what’s going on?” Peter asked, sitting down to listen to her. 

 

“Thanos sacrificed me in order to obtain the soul stone. I couldn’t do anything to stop him, Peter. It’s difficult to explain, but we’re in the soul stone.”

 

“Why are Yondu, Groot, and Mom here then?” Peter asked, glancing at each one of them. Yondu was just realizing his arrow wasn’t in his quiver, and was patting his pockets looking for it. His mother stood next to Peter, a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Older Groot was distracting himself by plucking flowers that he grew out of his hand.

 

“They’re here because they’re important people to you. Everyone is seeing something different. You see the people you love the most, happy and alive on the Milano.”

 

“Why isn’t Rocket here?” Peter asked.

 

“Yeah, this place does seem different without that critter,” Yondu pointed out.

 

“He survived the snap.”

 

“What snap?” Mantis asked. “Are we dancing again?”

 

“No, Mantis,” Gamora responded with patience in her tone, “Thanos has gathered all six stones. When he did, he snapped his fingers, wiping out half of the galaxy. Including you.”

 

Peter leaned back. He needed a moment to take in what he just listened to. “Are we dead?” he asked. Gamora had no answer. For a while, all that was heard on the Milano was the whispering roar of the Milano’s engine and Peter’s mixtape moving on to the next song. “Why can’t I touch the glowy orb?”

 

“It’s not time yet.”

 

“Not time? What does that mean?” Peter asked, even more confused.

 

“I don’t know how long we have to wait, but it’s not time to leave yet.”

 

“We just have to think up what to do,” Peter said. “We may be here a while.”


	2. Rocket

“I am Groot..?”  _ Daddy? _

Groot was gone. Again. This time, Rocket didn’t have the luxury of finding a twig to regrow Groot on. He kneeled on the ground, his tiny paws supporting him by leaning on the fallen tree that Groot was leaning on just seconds before. He was crying, but he didn’t care. His best friend was gone. 

 

Nobody came up to him. They were probably doing some grieving of their own. He had heard someone else crying loudly, but he didn’t know who it was. Hell, the only person he knew was Thor and that guy with the arm, but Rocket didn’t see him anywhere, so he assumed that he received the same fate as Groot. Well, if Quill were here- he paused. What if Peter was there? Were the rest of the Guardians okay? That thought made his heart weigh even more in his chest. 

 

He didn’t know how long he sat there. He watched the sun set over the horizon, wishing Groot were there to see it too. Before he knew it, it was nighttime and he was sitting in a high-tech looking room with the rest of the survivors. Nobody spoke. The silence was deafening. Rocket couldn’t stand sitting there in silence doing nothing, but he didn’t know what to do, what to say. He didn’t know anybody but Thor, and Thor seemed like he wasn’t in the mood to speak. From what Rocket understood, Thanos snapping his fingers was all Thor’s fault, but Rocket wasn’t about to blame him. 

 

Finally, someone spoke. A man with a beard like Thor’s, but with a dark blue suit on. “We all fought honorably, but we also suffered a big loss. Some of our best were eliminated: Vision, Wanda, The King, Sam, Bucky.” He paused before saying that last name. He must have been close to him, just like Groot was. “We need time to mourn and regroup, then we can figure out what to do. There are still people missing: Tony, Shuri, Spider-Man, and according to Bruce, Doctor Strange. We don’t know if they’re alive or not, but knowing Tony, if he’s alive, he’ll find a way to come back.”

 

Nobody looked like they had an ounce of hope in them, and Rocket didn’t feel any hope himself. The one person he cared about the most was gone. He got up and left the room silently, not really caring about what else the handsome bearded guy had to say. He needed to be alone, and he heard what he needed to hear. 

 

He found himself in a room full of gadgets and weapons, his favorite things gathered in one room. It looked abandoned and trashed, however. He picked up a nearby gadget. It was a gun of some sort. He gave a half smile. Part of him wanted a test dummy to shoot it at, just to release all this pent up emotions inside him, but he didn’t see any around.

 

Rocket set the gun down. Man, what he would give to have Groot and the others there. He wondered if Quill and the others were okay. He didn’t have high hopes, though. They would have found a way to get in touch with him. Rocket assumed the worst. 

 

“Dammit, Groot. Why’d it have to be you?” He fell on his knees over the gun and began to cry again. 

 

“Rocket?” he heard a voice behind him. It was Thor.

He sniffed, wiping his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” Thor asked. The question threw him off. He didn’t like talking about his emotions.

“Are you?” Rocket retorted. “You actually know more than one person on this planet.”

“No,” Thor answered simply. 

 

A few moments passed. Neither moved or spoke. They didn’t need to. Rocket probably need another person in the room to make sure he didn’t do anything to himself that everyone would regret later. Thor may need the same thing.

 

“Y’know, Quill said that this planet was the best place in the galaxy. Terra’s his home. He said that there was music and movies and criminals like me. So far, I haven’t found Terra pretty cool at all. No wonder Quill doesn’t wanna come back here. Nothin’ here but tragedy.”

 

“Earth is not always like this,” Thor said. “I’m not the best person to ask about Earth’s culture, but as far as I know, there still are good things here.” 

 

Rocket had turned to face him and was sitting on the floor by then. Maybe he needed to distract himself. “Know any good movies?”

 


	3. Star-Lord

“So.. what’s going on with the rest of the people who were affected by Thanos? The rest of the half of the galaxy?” Peter asked, sitting down in his pilot’s seat and watching the endless sea of stars out the window. Gamora stood by him, one hand on the back of his chair. 

 

“They’re all experiencing something similar to you. They are all reconnecting with their soul, and all the people connected to it. Like Drax, for example, may be seeing us along with his wife and daughter.”

 

Peter nodded. “I think I get it.”

“You do?” Gamora sounded surprised.

“Yeah.” 

“Good. You’re going to need to. That is, if the Avengers do what they need to do.”

“What do they need to do?”

“They have options. They could travel through time and try to undo the events that led up to the Decimation, or they could try and find the gauntlet to undo what Thanos did.”

 

Peter stood up. “Gamora, do you think they could save you?” He gently took her hands, hoping this wouldn’t be the last time he could do so.

 

Gamora shrugged. “I can’t predict the future, nor know what the possibilities of the stones are. Peter, no matter what, I’ll be with you, in your heart.” She pressed a finger to his chest, right where his heart was. “Right here.”

 

Peter hung his head. “Gam, I want you in person.”

“I can’t guarantee that, Peter.” Gamora said. 

“Gam, are you really you, or are you just MY you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you the Gamora who died at the hands of Thanos, or are you just a hallucination that I’m having of Gamora?”

“It’s me, Peter. Thanos threw me off a cliff at Vormir, sacrificing me for the soul stone.”

 

Peter wouldn’t have known that. It must’ve been true then. He kissed her forehead. “What about Nebula?” he asked, the question popping up randomly in his head.

“Nebula survived.” Peter didn’t have to see her face to know that she was thankful Peter asked about her sister.

“Good.”

 

“Hey, Pete!” Yondu called.

“Yeah?” Peter called.

“Come ‘ere, kid!”

 

Peter came into the room where everyone was, and everything was the same… except the blue orb. It seemed to be behaving differently. It seemed wilder. Peter couldn’t explain how he knew this or why he knew this, but something inside him felt hungry. He slowly approached it, not even thinking about it. 

 

“Peter!” Gamora’s voice called, snapping Peter out of his trance. He looked away, then realized what he had been doing. He had his arm halfway raised, about to absorb the power of the orb. He put his arm down. He took a few steps away.

 

“Why did you stop me?” he asked, turning to her. He wasn’t sure how he felt. 

 

“It’s not time.”

“Sure felt like time.”

 

“You’re going to feel tempted. It’s your soul trying to reconnect with something that you’ve lost. You’ve reconnected with all of us, but that orb is a missing piece of what makes you… you.” She came towards him and grabbed the hand that he was using to reach towards the orb. She led him away from the now fiery orb, and he felt a strange wave of relief and coldness in his chest, which was a strange sensation, but he figured it was for the best. 

 

“Why don’t we pass the time by playin’ some Rummy?” Yondu called. Peter turned to his father figure, who had a table in the center of the room with some chairs pulled up. Drax was already seated. Teenage Groot sat at a corner of the room, playing with a tablet. Mantis wasn’t sitting, but she looked interested in watching. Adult Groot decided to spectate as well. Meredith sat down next to Drax. 

 

“Deal me in, Yondu.”

 

Peter sat between Drax and his mother, an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He felt like something was holding him back. The only chair open was a chair facing away from the orb. He turned to face Gamora once he sat down. “Wanna join, Gamora?”

 

Gamora shook her head. “No, but I can give you advice if you need it.” He was sure she meant about strategy when it came to the cards, but part of him wondered if she was thinking of the orb too. He smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Peter. We’re here for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Peter in trouble? Is the Orb good news or bad news? What do you think will happen next? Also, what movie do you think Rocket and Thor will watch? Do you think more Avengers are going to be involved in this movie night?


	4. Rocket

After asking around, Rocket and Thor finally spoke to someone- the same someone with the beard who tried giving a pep talk to everyone earlier that afternoon- who Thor just called ‘Captain’. Cap had pulled out a little book of some sort and read off a list. Rocket thought that  _ Star Wars _ seemed the most interesting, so he picked that one. Interestingly enough, Quill’s Footloose wasn’t on the list.

 

After Cap joined them, Cap approached an attractive woman who had the same kinda look as Gamora, the type who could kill you with one finger. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. 

“Hey, Natasha, do you know how to get a movie pulled up for us?”

 

Natasha gave them an offended and confused look. “You wanna watch a movie  _ now? _ ” She asked, raising an eyebrow. 

 

“Don’t blame him, I just… need a distraction,” Rocket explained. “One of my teammates is from here and he always talked so highly of the culture and the people. I wanted to experience it so I didn’t hate this planet for taking Groot away from me.” His voice broke, so he chose to quit speaking. Thor chimed in too.

 

“I could use a distraction as well.” He simply stated.

 

Natasha nodded. “Okay. What movie?”

 

Cap responded. “Star Wars?” he asked, hoping Natasha was familiar with it. She nodded. “Okay.”

 

Within minutes, Rocket found himself in a room with a screen and comfy couches. He chose to sit by himself as Natasha pulled up the movie. They all sat in silence as the opening credits scrolled through the screen. Those translator implants were really useful, Rocket realized, because he wouldn’t have a clue what was happening if he couldn’t understand what they were saying.

 

After a few minutes, Rocket was just getting into the story, and the sassy droid they called R2-D2 Rocket related to on a personal level. Then Han Solo showed up on the screen. Rocket felt a sense of familiarity somehow through the way the actor portrayed him. A few moments later, when Han shot Greedo, Rocket realized why: Han was basically the embodiment of Quill. 

 

This movie came out before Quill was even born. Did that mean that Quill based his personality around a movie character? Rocket wanted to laugh, but all he could muster was a smile. The realization was bittersweet. He wanted to watch this because he wanted a distraction, but this movie was just making him homesick.

 

The movie was over before Rocket had realized it, and after the realization that Quill’s personality was based around Han Solo passed, Rocket got lost in the story. “That was a good movie. Wish they coulda done more with it, but it was good.”

 

“Oh, they have done more with it,” Natasha said with an annoyed look on her face. “So much more.”

 

“Let’s watch another then!” Rocket ordered cheerfully. A few buttons being pressed later, the moved on to Episode V. Next thing he knew, everyone else was asleep and Episode VI was over. Rocket only noticed after the credits began, and he looked around. He found the remote and slipped it out of Natasha’s hand. He squinted at the remote in the dark, trying to figure out how to turn off the television. He pressed the first button he saw, which actually seemed to do the trick. 

 

“Thanks, guys. I know y’all barely know me, but this… this means a lot,” Rocket mumbled quietly, walking outside and letting the others sleep.


	5. Star Lord

“Rummy!” A shout from Yondu snapped Peter out of a trance. Peter had discarded a ten, and there were two other tens in the discard pile. Yondu slipped the three tens out of the pile and set them with his other cards that he had put down. “Come on, Quill! You gotta pay better attention if you ever gonna catch up!”

 

Peter had only put down a trio of aces. Sure, it took him a while to gather all of the aces and set them down, but Yondu probably had double the points Peter had, and that was only this round. However, Peter wasn’t really worried about it. The back of his mind was still focused on the orb. He dared not look back at it, however, as Gamora was right beside him, and he was scared of what would happen if she caught him glancing at it.

 

“Alright, Yondu, Go on with your turn already…” Peter replied grumpily, pouting. He had to at least act like his head was in the game, not distracted by the orb. Yondu did nothing notable, and then Meredith went. She set down an ace to add onto Peter’s trio of aces, then she set down a trio of fives. 

 

Peter, however, wasn’t paying attention. “Anybody wanna drink?” Peter asked randomly, unsure if getting drunk was even possible in whatever afterlife Peter got sucked into.

 

“I’ll fetch them, if you’d like Peter, so that way you can keep playing,” Gamora volunteered. It didn’t take Peter long to realize she wanted Peter seared and away from that orb as long as possible.

 

“I’ll take a Xandarian beer,” Yondu said, glad that someone decided to finally get out the alcohol.

“I don’t need anything, but thanks for the offer, Peter,” Meredith said sweetly.

“Get me a beer too, Gamora,” Peter said, glancing up at her with a soft smile. She smiled back and walked off, leaving the area between him and the orb open. Quickly, he stood up, kicked the chair away, and took the five steps it took to reach the orb.

 

“Peter, no!” Gamora yelled desperately.

“Why?” Peter asked, angry. “Why are you keeping me here?”

 

Gamora paused for a long moment. Nobody chose to speak. When she finally spoke, it was soft, like she was about to cry. “Because when you leave, I’ll miss you. We all will.”

 

“That’s why I’m gonna save you. I can’t save Mom, Yondu, and Old Groot, but Drax, Mantis, New Groot, and you… I can save y’all. I will save y’all.”

 

“Peter, are you sure? I mean, sweetie, if you go when it’s the wrong time, what’ll happen?” Meredith asked, standing up.

 

“Yeah, Quill, you could break the space time continuum,” Drax said plainly, as if he were talking about Peter messing up while getting groceries. 

 

“I am Groot,” Old Groot said, smiling. Peter was thankful for at least  _someone's_ support.

 

“‘He can handle it?’ Tree, whose side are you on?” Yondu said. “We’re tyna keep him here.”

 

“We weren’t supposed to tell him that,” Drax mumbled not-so-discreetly.

 

While everyone else spoke, Gamora had the same soft look on her face that she rarely showed to people, but only for a brief moment. She glared at him. “Peter, I can’t let you g-“

 

“Too late!” Peter quickly interjected, jabbing his hand into the orb and letting the power flow through him. His vision was blinded with an electric blue hue, and his body began surging with raw power. He began feeling like he had eaten a big Thanksgiving dinner. A satisfying dinner. A warm, welcome feeling washed over him, like he had just finished a nice round of… like he just had a long bath. He began laughing. He felt so happy, even though he was reclaiming something that belonged to his father. He felt complete.

 

And then he sorta passed out.

 

He woke up laying face down in a field of grass with trees sparsely dotting the field. He sat up and observed his environment. This seemed a lot like Xandar, but when he looked up, he only saw one sun. He felt a connection deep in his soul, like he was at home.

 

He could only come up with one conclusion as to where he was at: Earth. 


	6. Rocket

Rocket had found the room where Thor had found him, the research facility, he had heard it been called. He was a bit calmer now. He was nowhere near over Groot’s death. He wanted to punch Thanos in the face with a thousand bullets. He was just less… sad. He picked up a trinket of some sort. Terran technology was a bit new to him, or at least modern Terran tech.

 

After a bit of observation, he discovered it was a remote activator of some sort. He didn’t know what it activated, so he wisely decided not to mess with it. Gamora would have approved of his decision. He picked up another object. It looked like a weird pair of glasses. They wouldn’t fit his smaller face, but he hovered them over his eyes and pressed a button on one of the legs of the frame. An HUD appeared on the lens and he looked around the room. 

 

“No threats here…” Rocket said, turning off the glasses and setting them back down. “I wonder if they have stuff like that for games… Groot would’ve loved that.” He wandered over to one of the wall displays. It had various news articles from within the past few hours. He read off the titles.  _ Billions Dead _ … “Tell me somethin’ I don’t know.”  _ Tony Stark Still Missing… _ “I don’t know who that is…”  _ Missouri Missing Man Returns From Space _ … “Wait a second. Why does Missouri sound familiar?”

 

He thought about it for a while, before realizing how dumb he sounded. Why would anywhere on Terra sound familiar? “Could that be Quill?” He asked himself quietly, tapping on the article. He skimmed through it until he found more information about who. “‘Calls himself Star-Lord’… Geez, Quill.” 

 

He scrolled further down and saw a picture. He looked happy, but Rocket could tell by the way Peter held himself that something was off. “Where’s Missouri?” He asked, wondering if anyone was awake to be able to tell him.

 

“Why do need to go to Missouri?” A voice said behind him. Rocket turned around to see a nerdy-looking older man who smelled weird.

 

“Who are you?” Rocket asked. He didn’t like talking to strangers.

 

“Dr. Bruce Banner. And you?”

 

“Nice to meet ya, Doc, I’m Rocket. I need to go to Missouri because a teammate of mine found himself there.”

 

Bruce came and looked at the article Rocket was looking at. “This article said he teleported there. Can your friend do that?”

 

“Not that I know of, but after the crazy shit that’s happened today, I don’t know what’s real anymore,” Rocket said defeatedly, crossing his arms. 

 

Bruce studied the picture. He tilted his head like a dog, leaning forward to examine it closer. He stared for so long that Rocket began to get uncomfortable for Peter’s sake.

 

“Uh, Doc, you okay?”

“I think I remember seeing a bounty for this guy.”

“Here?” Rocket asked, knowing that intergalactic bounties didn’t usually reach Terra.

“Oh! No, I was on Sakaar for awhile. Probably saw it there.”

“Why were you on Sakaar?” Rocket wondered, curious as to how he survived being there.

“I don’t know how I got there, but I was apparently a gladiator of some sort for like two years.”

“What?!” 

 

Rocket’s mind was blown. How could this little guy survive in Sakaar’s arena for two years? Rocket wouldn’t even survive in Sakaar’s arena for a week, yet alone two years. Bruce sounded like he wasn’t truly conscious, given his use of ‘apparently’. 

 

“You’re probably wondering what my secret is,” Bruce said. He went up to the screen and tapped in some information on a search bar. Pictures of a ginormous, muscular, green man with an angry look in his eyes. “That’s me. Well, it’s another form of me. I change into him whenever my heart rate is elevated over 200 beats per minute.”

 

“Damn,” Rocket said. “That must be cool.”

 

The doctor shook his head. “Not really. Whenever he’s out, he goes on rampages, causing destruction and sometimes hurting the people I care about.” 

 

“Oh. That’s a pretty shitty predicament. Were you born like that or…?” Rocket couldn’t think of any other explanation.

 

“He’s a science experiment gone wrong.” Bruce left it at that. “Anyways, you need a lift to Missouri? If you can find him and you think he’d be helpful, we can use all the manpower we can get.”

 

The green guy was a sensitive topic. Rocket understood how he felt. Rocket didn’t like talking about his nature either. He was glad he changed the subject instead of asking how Rocket was created. That was stuff he didn’t even tell Groot, yet alone some guy he barely knew.

 

“If you could get me to where Quill is, I’m sure he’d be willing to help,” Rocket stated. Bruce nodded.

 

“Good. If we can get permission to use a jet, I can get you there,” A new voice said. Rocket turned to the door, and Cap was standing there, looking alert despite the fact that when Rocket left the theater ten minutes earlier, he was fast asleep.

 

“Oh, I can fly myself, I just need a ship and a navigator,” Rocket boasted. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to get to Missouri.

 

“Where do you need to go?” Cap asked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bit of a long chapter, but that’s not really that big of an issue lmao... anyways, I hope you are enjoying this so far! I’m already planning the ending of this, so this isn’t endless. Love y’all!


	7. Rocket

They got back to Wakanda after a few hours and unloaded. Quill observed his surroundings, and Rocket watched as Quill introduced himself to the leftover Avengers. He seemed really excited, but Rocket  _ knew _ Peter, and he could tell something was off with him. Before Rocket could say anything, Cap spoke up over the group.

 

“Okay, we need to come up with a plan now that we have Quill.”

 

Just before Quill could give any ideas, Rocket heard a voice behind him that made him nearly jump out of his fur.

 

“Where’s Fury?” a female voice demanded.

 

Rocket turned around to see a tall blonde woman in what looked like what the Kree army used to wear, but with a red, blue, and gold color scheme. Rocket glanced at Quill, who looked surprised and maybe a little scared. Quill noticed Rocket watching and acted natural.

 

Cap asked the question almost everyone was thinking. “Who are you?”

 

Natasha squinted at the mysterious blond woman’s outfit, then spoke up. “Steve, the transmitter.”

 

“My name is Carol Danvers. I came because Fury sent out a signal. Where. Is. He?” She reiterated.

 

Cap explained what happened. 

 

“Alright. Then let’s find Thanos,” Carol simply said.

 

“Easier said than done. Nobody knows how to find him,” Rocket said.

 

“Wait. Maybe Nebula knows. As far as I know, she wasn’t affected by the decimation, so maybe she’s still out there somewhere, and she might know where Thanos would be hiding,” Quill suggested.

 

“And there may be other survivors that Quill doesn’t know about, given his circumstances,” Cap pointed out. 

 

They spoke more about strategy and locating Nebula and whoever else survived. Some people got on some computers and began poking at them. Rocket noticed Quill wasn’t doing much, so Rocket wandered up to him.

 

“Quill. Can we talk in private?” Rocket asked. He knew they didn’t exactly have personal conversations often. They were the only Guardians left, and Rocket had a feeling Quill needed to vent. 

 

Quill nodded and followed Rocket to the room with all the tools and equipment. He felt at home in that room, and nobody really bothered him there.

 

“What’s up, Rocket?”

 

“What’s botherin’ you?” Rocket asked, cutting to the chase. “You seem different somehow. Also, you seemed to be freaked out by Danvers. What’s up with that?”

 

Quill paused. “You noticed?”

 

“Mhm.”

 

“Well, ah, a few years ago, I tried flirting with her one time when I was a little tipsy, and she blew me through the wall of the bar and made me pay for the damages  _ and  _ our drinks.”

 

“Did you get with her?” Rocket asked, oblivious.

 

“What? No! She blew me _ through a wall, _ dumbass!”

 

“Alright, okay. Anything else bothering you?” Rocket asked, getting back to what he really wanted to talk about.

 

“I guess… I guess I’m just letting everything catch up to me. Losing Gamora, then seeing her again in the soul stone, along with everyone else. After that, I come back to Terra, of all places, in my hometown. I’ve just been forced to face the thing that I never wanted to face again.”

 

As Quill spoke, Rocket began to understand what Quill was feeling. He had been faced with a variety of emotions over the past few hours, it would be hard to  _ not _ be affected by the rush. 

 

“That sucks.”

“You got that right.”

“Hey, Quill?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s stick together, yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this fanfic until the end(game)! This is the end! (Unless you want me to write more, I’m sure I can find some way to continue this)
> 
> Speaking of Endgame, a majority of this was written before I watched Endgame, and this is al headcanon.


End file.
